In an article in SDM Magazine they discuss the fact that Video Alarm Verification is becoming important to verify that a crime is occurring. It's especially important in those cities where police will respond only to verified alarms.

As more municipalities across the United States report that police will not to respond to an alarm signal unless an intrusion has been verified, a new opportunity that has arisen for central station alarm monitoring companies is video alarm verification. One municipality that has enacted such a policy is Las Vegas, although police there still will respond to all panic alarms.

In response to the local ordinance, Las Vegas-based central station alarm company A-1 Security Ltd. has been offering video verification to its customers at a charge of about $100 per month, which also may include conventional alarm monitoring. When an account subscribing to the video verification service experiences an alarm, a video image of the site is automatically sent to the central station, along with the alarm signal. By viewing the associated video signal, central station operators can confirm whether an intruder is present and, if appropriate, dispatch the police, advising them that the intrusion has been verified. “All of our operators have knowledge of the system and can handle an alarm,” notes Bud Wulforst, president of A-1, adding that operators often can help police by providing descriptions of the perpetrators. Police also tend to respond more promptly when they know an intrusion has been verified, he says. Story

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